Whether to build your city realistically or not?

[maximdelmar]

Completely out of interest here: A lot of neighbors I have, have built their cities with no thought to making them structurally work - buildings/industries are placed randomly with a token road square going nowhere to validate it. I've always tried, as far as possible, to make my city look as realistic and as functional as possible (whilst also trying to use my space efficiently). How do other people feel about this as a priority? I feel it makes the game more fun to make your city actually look attractive rather than just a pile of buildings.

 

[Chloe11111]

I will get there at some point. For now, I'm just focused on growing. But really, having six ski hills in the same city as six water parks doesn't make much sense

 

[maximdelmar]

I will get there at some point. For now, I'm just focused on growing. But really, having six ski hills in the same city as six water parks doesn't make much sense

Exactly! I mean I have multiple buildings of some things like the guest plane rewards (perfume store, chess club etc), but try to spread them around the city as much as possible

 

[Barkmi4 (Mike)]

Completely out of interest here: A lot of neighbors I have, have built their cities with no thought to making them structurally work - buildings/industries are placed randomly with a token road square going nowhere to validate it. I've always tried, as far as possible, to make my city look as realistic and as functional as possible (whilst also trying to use my space efficiently). How do other people feel about this as a priority? I feel it makes the game more fun to make your city actually look attractive rather than just a pile of buildings.

I would love to make my city as realistic as possible, however for me, progressing is more important right now.
This means buildings are placed to minimise road use, allowing for the placement of more passenger buildings, and the completion of more flights.
The two limiting factors are, maximum land expansion, and the cost of land expansion. Land becomes very expensive past a point, so unless you have a lot of disposable income, most people hit a point where functionality trumps aesthetics.
If you look at the guys with maximum city land, most of their city’s are cramped because there isn’t enough space to place everything they would like. This is another problem.

 

[maximdelmar]

I would love to make my city as realistic as possible, however for me, progressing is more important right now.
This means buildings are placed to minimise road use, allowing for the placement of more passenger buildings, and the completion of more flights.
The two limiting factors are, maximum land expansion, and the cost of land expansion. Land becomes very expensive past a point, so unless you have a lot of disposable income, most people hit a point where functionality trumps aesthetics.
If you look at the guys with maximum city land, most of their city’s are cramped because there isn’t enough space to place everything they would like. This is another problem.

Fair enough! I think that once you get to the point where expansions are costing over 200000 coins, I turn to spending money on airport cash and waiting for the half-price expansion sale (10AC). I think if you're enjoying the game enough that you've played it up to that level, then it becomes worth spending a tenner every couple of months for 102AC, and that kinda solves the expansion issue. But I totally understand, It's something that I try to combine with also being as space-efficient as possible, cause whilst it's a good game, I don't want to chuck more real money at it than necessary!

 

[Barkmi4 (Mike)]

Fair enough! I think that once you get to the point where expansions are costing over 200000 coins, I turn to spending money on airport cash and waiting for the half-price expansion sale (10AC). I think if you're enjoying the game enough that you've played it up to that level, then it becomes worth spending a tenner every couple of months for 102AC, and that kinda solves the expansion issue. But I totally understand, It's something that I try to combine with also being as space-efficient as possible, cause whilst it's a good game, I don't want to chuck more real money at it than necessary!

This is me now..

If I were you, I’d buy all the land you can with coins. You can always make a lot more coins, but greens come a lot slower.

Edit: I agree with your point on spending. The disappointing thing for me, is that £10 is only enough to buy 1 half price expansion.

 

[maximdelmar]

This is me now..
View attachment 35540

If I were you, I’d buy all the land you can with coins. You can always make a lot more coins, but greens come a lot slower.

Edit: I agree with your point on spending. The disappointing thing for me, is that £10 is only enough to buy 1 half price expansion.

Oh crikey! Haha thanks for the heads up on this! I'm beyond the stage where land can be bought with coins (Expansion 30), but it's still only 20 cash for a full price expansion, so £10 goes a long way for me. Long way to go before I reach your level, so will cross that bridge when (if) it comes! Good luck!

 

[Arch]

In the best city comps there was some very creative realistic layouts (downtown, entertainment areas) and some very symmetrical (neat) but still space efficient layouts.

One day I hope to have that flexibility but for now it is what can I cram in to the limited space that have available, from just collecting free greenies, while leaving enough space for event buildings that might be required.

 

[ItsRalphy]

I think it is fab that we all pay the same game so differently, but for me it matters as I have kept my city as true to realistic as I can. I am sure I could get more in and be more realistic, but I like how my airport looks, and that is how I play. I found airport city looking for a sim style game that involved aircraft as I am an aviation enthusiast and also used to play sim city in years gone by, this combines the two. Each to their own.

 

[Tito]

Completely out of interest here: A lot of neighbors I have, have built their cities with no thought to making them structurally work - buildings/industries are placed randomly with a token road square going nowhere to validate it. I've always tried, as far as possible, to make my city look as realistic and as functional as possible (whilst also trying to use my space efficiently). How do other people feel about this as a priority? I feel it makes the game more fun to make your city actually look attractive rather than just a pile of buildings.

I keep my city and airport as aesthetically pleasing and realistic. I have districts (Business zone, downtown, Chinatown, entertainment and eatery district, a big university, sports complex and a residential area). Everything is separated by full roads and not a piece of road to save space. My next project is to build an amusement/water park section in my southeast section of my city. Please take a look. My friend code is amstsa3g.

Tito

 

[TheVanillaSun]

As with Tito and Ralphy above me, my goal is to design a realistic city, even if it's not as "space efficient". I want it to feel like a city I'd live in. I'm only level 32 currently, but my little city is taking shape with different districts, etc. I'm sure it's not nearly the most effective way of playing the game, but I wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[Jon Allen]

Interesting question!
The whole game is so unrealistic that I never thought to try and make my city realistic.
One of the things I like most is the challenge of optimizing the layout to maximize the output of passengers and coins with the minimum road usage.
And then on top of that, using buildings that have bonus features of increasing output for the spaces around them.

 

[KhrysLo]

I can’t say that I have a very realistic city but I guess it’s as close to it as I can manage at this point. The layout is far from being efficient, I know that very well and I realise that I could make so much more coins, spend less greenies for land expansions, etc. if I minimised the roads. But I play this game to have fun, to enjoy. I know myself well enough to understand that if I’ve done that it would irritate me to see my city looking like that. So yep I better have more or less pretty city that brings me joy than an efficient one which I don’t want to look at.

 

[amir77a]

Oh crikey! Haha thanks for the heads up on this! I'm beyond the stage where land can be bought with coins (Expansion 30), but it's still only 20 cash for a full price expansion, so £10 goes a long way for me. Long way to go before I reach your level, so will cross that bridge when (if) it comes! Good luck!

Let me tell you that when you crossed that bridge, there is no way back... 😉